a gingerbread house @ yaya's

sunday night dinner was followed up by decorating the gingerbread house we bought at costco a few weeks back. its good to be a gregory......

morgan is the best.aunt.ever. she loves my kids and they love her in return. however, grets does not like momo without her signature curly locks. it does take some getting use to.

miss prets helped in her own way.... she was disqualified from participating in decorating the gingerbread house after she tried to dismantle and eat it.
(p.s. she and jude looked beautiful in their christmas sunday duds... too bad i didn't get a picture)

after about 20 minutes of decorating most of our crew left us for home alone 2 (i can't blame them).

so terni and i finished it together, we are sort of best friends.

the finished product.
genius.

yaya was responsible for this little fella. she says its a belt buckle.... sure i believe you.

oh and the best part of the whole night? tubbies in the sink.

i love being a gregory.

williams family party 09

this party is never, ever a disappointment. here are the reasons why:

a. the live nativity
b. the queens story teller
c. my dad's family

below are my 2 grandmothers. they share 6 grandchildren and 13+ great-grandchildren. billie and johnnie belle have been in laws for 36 years and have a lot in common, they both raised their combined 12 children in windy cheyenne, they outlived their spouses, they are very passionate... jb loves the gospel and billie loves playing golf (so much so she lives in phoenix away from all of her children, just so she can golf year round), and they are both incredibly strong women. i am lucky to have these women still in my life, they are me.
grandma billie (she and trevan are bff's.)

grandma johnnie belle

miss prets is working very hard on walking

trevan brought up a good point about these two. does tiffani sit on marks lap even at their own home? no one knows.... but after 2 years of marriage they are still lovebirds.

the queens storyteller (i.e. lee)
A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

this year he brought us a story about the elves and santa's magic boots. he has a very captive audience, as always. after the performance jude kept telling lee "that was a great story!". lee's costumes alone will keep the little ones entertained through out the story.

my aunties.... holley and terri

jude has been looking forward to the nativity scene for weeks. because brooke, my mom, and i are in charge of the production we have first dibs on roles. jude decided early on he would be joseph and his bestie minie would be his bride mary. he was SO excited and told people for days that he was going to be in joseph in the baby jesus concert. hilarious... baby jesus concert, i am still laughing about it.

joseph and his pregnant (2 year old) bride mary.

greta was an angel but her costume was thrown together last minute because her giant head would not fit in the lamb costume. i know, i know, somehow she managed to make even this outfit look gorge.

cutest thing ever.

until next year.....

this is mine.

i get to be this wife, this mom, and i get have this life.
(i also get to have this for a sister)

jude at his best.

and i would do it all exactly the same if given the chance.

sunday mornings

i love sunday mornings..... i have groaned and complained all year about 1 o'clock church but really i am sad that we wont have our sunday mornings come january. its fantastic, trev and i take turns sleeping in on saturday and sunday, we have almost always have a big (albeit late) breakfast and there is plenty of time spent lounging around on the couch.

today was especially perfect because snow started falling and trevan started a us a crackling fire. greta sat in her chair eating breakfast for hours on end as she does everyday (that girl loves herself some food) and i could hear jude's mumbled star wars talk as he played with his "guys". the kids seem perfectly content to just be at home with us, their parents, as they should. it was special and i thought it needed documentation.

and off to church we go.

suzanne barnes

this week i learned of the death of one of greta's therapists, suzanne. when greta was 10 weeks old i contacted the early intervention program and suzanne barnes was the first person i spoke to, she was the first person i met, and the first person to give me hope. for 6 months suzanne was at our house bi-monthly playing with greta, teaching me things, and most of all giving me hope. last december we found out that she would no longer be servicing our family because of her returning cancer from years before and it broke my heart. i wanted her to be with us until greta didn't need her help anymore, i wanted her to see what she told me greta would do.... but cancer is not really fair that way. it kind of plays by its own rules and always seems to take the best people.

suzanne was the sweetest woman i think i have ever met and you could tell she loved her job. she adored my greta and knew exactly what we needed to do with her, she put greta on the road of growth, development, and success. she set us up with the best vision, physical, and speech therapists we could ask for. these women's love and hard work are the reason why greta is where is today. i wish she was still here, i wish she could see little greta now. i know greta would make her proud.

thank you suzanne, my little family will not forget you.

rest in peace.

cozy

the kids are snuggled in bed slumbering soundly in their footsie pajamas.

it's 18 degrees outside and our furnace is roaring.

snow is gently falling like glitter from the sky.

christmas is up and i am feeling happy.

it all feels very cozy and very perfect.

p.s. thats our new piano.... thanks to a copy machine that needed a home. it pays to be the only piano playing child in my family.

lay off me, i'm starving.

i think i was supposed to be a bear, or maybe a squirrel because the winter is coming and i am feeling the need to fill my belly to get me through the winter. i am starving, i cannot get enough food.... ever. i am hungry, more like ravenous all the time. it's really not okay. i don't know what to do. every winter i get all cozied up to food but its nothing in comparison to this. it's all that i can do to not start gnawing on my fist as we speak. trevan has been looking at me in awe the past few days as i pound food hourly. i am usually one of the smaller eaters in these parts(you should meet my very skinny, disgustingly huge eater, sister brooke... its not fair). really, what is going on? i am not pregnant so we can rule that one out. maybe i am just going through a growth spurt or something?(that seems like a rational explanation) whatever the reason is, i have got to get it under control or i am going to wind up morbidly obese by spring. i mean is this how it starts? do you just start eating a lot and then you wake up and you don't recognize yourself? frankly, i am bit worried.

so help me.... i am calling jenny craig or at least controlling myself starting fresh tomorrow.

but i am so hungry!